The group received the Bonsang Award at the 20th Seoul Music Awards, and the Kpop New Artist Award at the 2010 Billboard Japan Music Awards.

History

2009–10: For Muzik, Hit Your Heart and Diamond

On May 14, Cube Entertainment announced the formation of a five-member girl group, called 4Minute, and revealed that its first member would be former Wonder Girls member Kim Hyun-a. Prior to the official announcement, the group was unofficially called the "Hyuna group". The next member, Nam Ji-hyun, was revealed on May 22. The remaining members were announced the following day.

An explanation of the album and its motivation is printed in the sleeve:

"We all used to make each other mix tapes when we were at school, or at least fill up the other side of a C90 with songs we knew other people hadn't heard. I guess that kind of stuck and we wanted to make our own. And we all remember how exciting it was to hear about people we admired collaborating with each other. We wanted in on that.

In the summer of 2005 we started emailing people asking if they wanted to come and be involved. All the tracks would have to be written and recorded within the space of one day at our Like a Cat, Like a Fox studio somewhere under a bridge, somewhere in Newcastle. All spur of the moment, no time to be precious but with a spirit of taking chances and doing things that none of us could get away with in our respective day jobs. People were up for it. So we did it. In the summer of 2006 it was finished.

Background

Renaissance had been moderately successful during the 1970s, having a top ten UK singles chart hit in 1978 with "Northern Lights", but were better known as an album band, and for their live performances, particularly at Carnegie Hall. In 1979, the band had taken a less symphonic/orchestral and more electronically based turn with the album Azure d'Or, which resulted in disappointing sales and resultant dropping by their label, Warner Bros. Records. Meanwhile, the lineup of Renaissance was in flux, as John Tout and Terry Sullivan left for varying reasons.

Nevada

The reduced version of Renaissance then took stock; according to the sleeve notes to their CD, "It was time to stand back, take a breather, experiment, and to embark on a new working relationship with their fellow countryman Peter Gosling". Gosling had been in the 1960s band "Moon Train" which had been managed and produced by Bill Wyman, played keyboards on the Renaissance album Camera Camera and later on Time-Line. The single "In the Bleak Midwinter", a version of the Christmas carol by Gustav Holst and Christina Rossetti
was released for the 1982 Christmas market, but did not enter the UK singles chart until 8 January 1983. It spent one week on the chart at number 71.
Their second single, "You Know I Like It" did not trouble the charts and the project went no further. Renaissance finally folded in 1987; Haslam and Dunford embarked on solo careers, and Gosling wrote music for television and film.

Nevada (Binnie novel)

Nevada: A Novel is the debut novel from author Imogen Binnie, released by Topside Press in 2013. Nevada follows the adventures of transgender New York punk woman Maria Griffiths.

Plot

When Griffiths finds out her girlfriend cheated on her, she spirals out of control, stealing her girlfriend's car and buying heroin before heading west on a journey of self-discovery. In Nevada, she meets James Hanson, and immediately realizes that Hanson is also transgender, but doesn't realize it yet. The two travel to Reno together. Griffiths frequently lapses into long inner monologues throughout the book, reflecting on gender, heteronormativity, and social conditioning.

Inspiration

Binnie has said that in writing a story about a transgender protagonist, she wanted to resist the risk of explaining "The Trans Experience for cis people," which she says often happens with transgender memoirs. Because Nevada is a work of fiction, Binnie said she approached writing it as a transgender story written for trans women. "One of the questions I was trying to answer with Nevada was, what would a story about trans women that was intended for an audience of trans women — what would that look like?" Binnie told blogger Sarah McCarry in an interview about the book.

Wait A Minute

Wait a minute, hey just a minuteI just need a little timeI can't get myself togetherGive me half the chanceBaby to collect my mindWait a minute, hey just a minuteI need a little room to breatheSlow down, slow downWe can turn it aroundBaby you don't have to leaveI just wanna call the time now babyThings are going way too fastI've been having trouble keeping up with youI don't think I'm gonna lastI love you like there's no tomorrowBut I'm gotta make you through todaySo have a little passion with a ???You don't have to throw it all awayWait a minute, hey just a minuteI just need a little timeI can't get myself togetherGive me half the chanceBaby to collect my mindWait a minute, hey just a minuteI need a little room to breatheSlow down, slow downWe can turn it aroundBaby you don't have to leaveAnd everything about this love we shareThere's something that I can't explainAnd everytime I think I get some will??? going down to the trainWait a minute, hey just a minuteI just need a little timeI can't get myself togetherGive me half the chanceBaby to collect my mindWait a minute, hey just a minuteI need a little room to breatheSlow down, slow downWe can turn it aroundSlow down, slow downBaby you don't have to leave